Sportsfest 2009

Wasn't Princeton in the Arugula Bowl?

Scotty, that was back in the salad days of bowl games.

That's fine, as long as we know which players are dressing for the game, Raysmom.

Okay, I officially have no interest in or knowledge of the game of football (sport? -- we had that discussion, didn't we?) HOWEVER, I must mention that in honor of the Big Game tonight I performed the Boomer Sooner song for my unimpressed husband this morning over breakfast. I didn't bother to break out the pom-pons or paint my face, though.

My brother and many of my high school classmates graduated from OU. That's about the extent of my identification -- although the Sun Sentinel did an article on how lonely it is to be a Sooner fan in our area, and I did feel sorry for the interviewees. One guy said that Gator fans tend to be "rambunctious" and that Sooner fans are more laid-back.

I offered to bet my husband $5 on the outcome of the game just so I might actually care who wins. He wouldn't do it until he found out the "point spread" or something -- ?!? I was immediately in over my head so I quit there.

Here's a version of the fight song you probably haven't heard before:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5o2_K4Hr_6I

Lettuce hope that Princeton won, Scotty.

Good morning. I want to state clearly that although I am from Oklahoma I did not attend Oklahoma schools and feel no particular allegiance to OU football. To be more particular, I have no stake in this game. I have no plans to watch it, despite the obvious opportunity to consume pizza and beer. I can do that without watching football.

I am happy for Joel and all the Gator fans. I am sure they are as rabid - I mean enthusiastic - as the thousands of OU fans here are today. [We have, by the way, far more OU fans than attended that school, or any college or university. I suspect the same is true of the Gators.] I am sure the Gator fans' lives, and possibly the government of the State of Florida, have suffered the same effects as have the State of Oklahoma and lives of OU fans, as hundreds flee for whereever the heck the thing is played. Oh, wait, it is in Florida, isn't it? Miami or somewhere? So actually, no matter what the game's outcome, Florida is making money off of Oklahoma on this game. Clever.

In sum, if there is any Boodle-based game rivalry, it won't start with me. Let the best team win. Or something like that.

I thought that the guys wouldn't play in the Arugula Bowl because it didn't fit with their mesclun self-images.

That's just the tip of the iceberg, byoo.

True, there's no endive puns with this topic.

There has been a shortage of pirate news lately. So the Tambo Quemado incident drew my interest.

Tambo Quemado is a Bolivian border post located at an altitude of 13368 feet. It is the main entry point for goods coming from the Pacific ports of Iquique and Arica.

About two weeks ago, a large convoy of Chilean trucks left Iquique carrying a load of used cars consigned to La Paz. On reaching Tambo Quemado, the convoy was not allowed to proceed. A few days earlier Bolivia passed legislation that prohibits the importation of vehicles older than five years.

Several phone calls caused the arrival of a large number of Bolivian businessmen and their customers who started a protest and pelted police with stones. At the same time they placed boulders on the highway effectively blocking all traffic and prevented the retreat of the convoy back to Chile.

The lack of facilities, the altitude, hunger and thirst began causing problems for the Chilean drivers.

Bolivia has no diplomatic relations with Chile. The Chilean police had no official way to communicate with their Bolivian counterparts and establish a food and water relief operation to the drivers trapped just inside Bolivian territory.

The Chilean foreign ministry had to work via the good offices of other embassies to bring relief to the convoy.

Yesterday, the Bolivian police managed to drive off the demonstrators and clear the way for the trucks to return to the Pacific Coast.

Used cars, anyone?

Could we keep going indefinitely until none romaine?

I got into work 2 hours late, thanks to a bad accident on I-270. It was shut down, and at least a dozen folks were carted off to the hospital. Of course, I was crabby, and thinking only of *my* convenience.

However, the food fight between Scotty and Raysmom put a smile on my face. Way to go, kids.

No cos for concern.

Now that we've amused Don, should we leaf it alone?

Google CEO Eric Schmidt in his Fortune interview (Joel's link):

"Well, today you have these for-profit companies that are in a terrible business situation who support an important public good. What's an alternative way to support the public good? One is Pro Publica [the non-profit investigative journalism organization headed by former Wall Street Journal Managing Editor Paul Steiger and funded by, among others, the Sandler Foundation]."

The NYT, on Dec. 24, in its headline, called the Sandlers the pariahs of the S&L industry, but in earlier reporting by the NYT:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/15/business/media/15publica.html?scp=1&sq=Pro%20Publica%20Sandlers&st=cse

Pro Publica is the creation of Herbert M. and Marion O. Sandler, the former chief executives of the Golden West Financial Corporation, based in California, which was one of the nation’s largest mortgage lenders and savings and loans. They have committed $10 million a year to the project, while various foundations have provided smaller amounts. Mr. Sandler will serve as chairman of the group, which will begin operations early next year.

The Sandlers are also major Democratic political donors and critics of President Bush. Last year, they sold Golden West to the Wachovia Corporation for about $26 billion, a deal which valued their personal shares at about $2.4 billion. ...

The nearest parallels to Pro Publica may be the Center for Investigative Reporting in Berkeley, Calif. [the move from San Francisco occurring in 2005], and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting in Washington, groups that support in-depth work and have had considerable success getting it published or broadcast in mainstream media. But their budgets are a fraction of Pro Publica’s, and they do not actually employ most of the journalists whose work they help finance.

[Since this story was reported in Oct. 2007, I wonder what the situation is today with Pro Publica?]

I think you're right, Scotty. Wasn't it Princeton versus Parsons College? or was it Faber? One of them.

Joel, any time I hear "the smartest folks on the planet" I cringe. I hate to be anti-intellectual and a Luddite, but "the smartest folks on the planet" are the people pretty much in charge of destroying it, IT geniuses in particular, and the Internet more than most things. The Internet is killing print media, and all the "new" media is killing things like traditional television networks. The phone companies have been perverted and are out of control. The music industry has pretty much been destroyed by Napster and its followers-on. The simple act of reading has been so subverted that it is in danger. People's attention spans have been reduced to that of fruit flies. The art of letter-writing has virtually disappeared.

And if you wanna talk about the smartest people on the planet, let's discuss Wall Street and the banking and mortgage industries for a few minutes, shall we? Becasue some of the smartest people on the planet created a bunch of new and exciting ways to diversify wealth management, to the point that we now have almost no wealth left to manage. Thank you, Harvard Business School and Wharton grads.

I know all these guys didn't start out to ruin the planet, but they have pretty much done so inadvertently, and we can't stop them. We don't control technology; it now controls us. We have no control over our culture; it now does whatever it wants to, and parts of it are toxic and increasingly so.This isn't *because* "the smartest folks on the planet" are in charge -- but rather in spite of it.

Raysmom, byoolin, I think we should quit while we're ahead.

Mudge, it could be that the "papers" will survive in a new state where they still have reporters. TV stations are giving up their news teams left and right (or maybe just left).

I haven't gone out of my way to hold an actual piece of newsprint in about 7 years. (I will peek at something that is just laying there) OR, just picking up the free newspaper that gets tossed on the lawn just before every rain.

Faber,that's great Mudge...."Thank you sir may I have another one"

Florida vs Oklahoma I am rooting for Oklahoma,but pretty sure Florida will win.

As for Utah,back in the olden days i think they may have shared the national championship with the winner of this game.

Texas,they didn't look like world beaters the other night,but having beat Oklahoma by 10,i think they a legitmate gripe that they aren't playing tonight.

USC looked like a pro team playing a college team and despite their one loss,they aren't chosen...go figure.

I wonder if 50 years from now,they will have an asterick next to all these years of the BCS(Big Conference Sympathy)or (Bulls**t Computer Selection)

You are fine Curmudgeonly form, my friend. Though I don't think the Google guys had anything to do with Wall Street's development of excessively risky instruments.

Lot's of excitement in these august halls today, as yet another partner has done A Very Bad Thing (though not the same Very Bad Thing that other guy did a while back) so I am dashing about, up and down, in and out, calming the outraged and plotting damage-control strategies with the rational. It's what I do, it's what I live for.

I expect, as hard times bite harder, that this will be a regular occurrence. Panic makes people behave oddly.

kb, the point spread is a number given by the odds makers roughly based on the expected outcome. Florida is favored by 5 from what I have seen, meaning that if you bet Joel, Florida would have to win by 6 to win the bet.

So you should ask for five points in your bet with your husband.

Traditionally, were the situation reversed, one should insinuate the other person isn't really a good fan by asking for the point spread.

Doesn't the word "bet" apply only in games of chance? Whereas I feel certain that Joel would consider this instance to be a case of inevitable victory, with only picky details (like the point spread) remaining to be determined. It's a wager, I'd wager, but not a bet.

Agreed, Yoki, that Google and/or the Internet had nothing to do with Wall Street. It was just another variation of "the smartest folks on the planet" problem.

As are lawyers who do Very Bad Things.

By the way, Bertooch, if you ever have the opprotunity to bet on Yoki Versus the Lawyer Who Did a Very Bad Thing, I don't have to tell which side the smart money's on. Yoki is the 1972 Miami Dolphins of lawyer wranglers.

Okay, Mudge, guilty. I admit I have the attention span of a fruit fly, and to my shame we have not yet written or mailed our Christmas thank-you notes (but we will, we will, or we have to give the presents back).

In my defense, I've been really excited about this football game I hear is being played today. Truly, I haven't been able to concentrate on anything else.

Funny, I hadn't heard about that point spread. Everyone here who cares seems to think OU will win.

I need to find myself an Engineer Wrangler to take care of Engineers who do Very Bad Things.

I think I know what a 'gator is. What in Hades is a Sooner? A Premature Mooner? Someone who's better than a Later? Inquiring mind wants to know.

Yoki;

Here's hoping you never have to deal with any of your wrangle-ees and a Very Bad Thong.

:-)

Scotty, the people around here who do a Very Bad Thong are usually bc and me.

Shriek, a "Sooner" is an Oklahoman. Here's the Wiki desprition of how they got their nickname:

"The term Sooners was used to describe settlers who entered the Unassigned Lands, located in the current state of Oklahoma, before President Grover Cleveland officially proclaimed them open to settlement with the Indian Appropriations Act of 1889 on March 2, 1889. The name derived from the "sooner clause" of the Indian Appropriation Act, which stated that no one should be allowed to enter and occupy the land prior to the opening time and that such people would be denied rights to illegally claimed land.

Sooners were often deputy marshals, land surveyors, railroad employees, and others who were able to legally enter the territory early to mark out choice pieces of land for themselves or others. Some sooners crossed into the territory illegally at night and were originally called "moonshiners" because they entered "by the light of the moon." These sooners would hide in ditches at night and suddenly appear to stake their claim after the land run started, hours ahead of legal settlers."

...oh, and not to be confused with "premature evacuation," although the nickname would seem to apply equally well.

Shriek, I think sooners refers to the pioneers who came to the Oklahoma territory in covered wagons,hence the sooner schooner that was involved in some incident years ago.

Shrieking Denizen, are you serious? Okay.

Oklahoma has a long and checkered history of settlement. It was first promised to a variety of Indian tribes, at various times, essentially in perpetuity. Uncle Sam reneged on these contracts a little at a time. The first big white settlement was instigated by the 1889 Land Run. The settlement area was marked off in sections, which would eventually be registered as legitimate land claims. A line was set up (near the Kansas border), patrolled by feds etc. Prospective settlers lined up, the fastest with horses to run ahead of the wagons. At a certain time on some day in April 1889 (okay, I'm a bad Oklahoman), everyone set off. When you reached a section you liked, you staked it, guarded it vigorously for the few days it took everyone to move through, then registered it as yours with the gummint.

Now, I have always maintained that truly successful citizens of other states had other options and didn't make the Land Run. However, even among this motley crowd there were some who couldn't wait for the official start date. They wanted to get in there and get the best of what little arable land there was, so they snuck through the lines. These folks were called "Sooners". My great-grandfather, who did make the Land Run, actually bought our property from someone who was there first. Turns out the guy didn't have legal title but he did have a long gun.

Oklahoma used to celebrate the first Land Run with enthusiasm. In the last few years it has finally been borne in upon us that our sizeable tribal population has a different view of the whole thing. My personal consolation is that our property was in the Unassigned Lands, and there was no tribal presence there at all before we got there.

...and elucidating even further, into incredibly archane trivia:

The Oklahoma Land Rush (1889) is portrayed in the movie "Cimarron" (1960), starring Glenn Ford as gunslinging, two-fisted newspaper editor Yancy Cravat, one of the all-time great character names, editor of the Oklahoma Wigwam (as Mr. D. Barry says, I am not making this up). The movie is based on the novel by Edna Ferber, and it's actually a pretty good book (and movie), and Ferber was a pretty good, underrated and now virtually unknown writer. Alas.

That Wikipedia snippet is mostly right, but believe me, the 1889 Land Run was in April. President Cleveland may have made the proclamation in March, I don't know.

Land Run. Not Land Rush. We're talking folk history here. Also, Tom Cruise made a movie about it too. I think it was him, anyway, I didn't see it. Some famous star. [Where's kurosawaguy when we need him? Come to that, where is he anyway?] It was not filmed in Oklahoma.

Land Run. Oklahoma.
Gold Rush. California.

Northern California, that is. The Sierras. Talk about the "Gold Rush" in Southern California, which was settled by Mexico years and years before that, and they'll laugh at you.

Mudge

I'm trying to find ways to keep reading in the picture. And I also have the attention span of a fruit fly. I do love the way you word stuff. Is this a football game JA is talking about? That question allows you see where I am in the scheme of things. Absolutely and totally not on the right page.

I saw the economic speech given by President-elect Obama. I wish there had been more details, although I doubt I would have understood them. He paints a dire picture. Of course, one can see that just looking around. Here they're closing a long term nursing home located in the county hospital. That means families will have to find other places for their love ones, and a bunch of people will have to find other jobs. And more than likely the reason for this closing, the bottom line was red, not black.

I hope the newly elected President has success with the many difficulties he's facing, but if anyone, and I do mean anyone, wants to criticize every effort to fix this mess, they should always play this blast from the past: Oh, Lord, who brought us to this point? And the answer should pretty much stifle some of that criticism.

I wish the inspection folks would show up so I can go back to bed. I'm so sleepy. I've got to stop with the getting up at two and three o'clock in the morning.

Loomis, we've had a mess of rain here too, and the weather person is calling for more.

Slyness, I got the walk in this morning. It was cold, very cold, but it felt good once I got into it. Hope you were able to do the same.

The sun came over the ridge brightly on time this morning. There were a few little clouds floating around dropping light showers. Must have been some rainbows about. Then as the has morning progressed the little clouds grew larger and merged into what is now moddeled gray overcast.
Last night I took the pup out at 9:30 for her final business before retiring and WOW! It was as bright as day. Clear sky with bright stars and a big 'O white almost round ball directly over head. What a contrast to the pitch black the last six weeks.

Also the subject of a Tom Cruise movie, Far and Away, in which he surprisingly plays a brash young maverick who doesn't play by the rules.

Sounds like Cruise was trying to stretch his craft there, SofC.

April 22, 1889, Ivansmom. Oklahoma had a second (and bigger) one on Sept. 19, 1893. Start time for both was noon. There seem to have been five smaller ones as well in the same decade. Seems Oklahoma sure had the runs back then.

I'll take your word for it that "Run" is the correct term, IM, but from what I've just been researching, "Run" and "Rush" seem to be used interchangeably. And not just "pop" references where mistakes are likely, but academic stuff, too, viz. http://www.jstor.org/pss/1903788

Not that it's dispositive (for you lawyers, IM), but if you Google "Oklahoma Land Rush," you get nearly 600,000 hits, Change it to the "Run" variant you get 400,000.

I read that Wilbon column aloud to Mr. F when it first appeared. Explained his general New Years Day malaise and he felt better knowing he wasn't alone.

Using football BCS logic, Harvard's basketball team is the new #1 because they beat Boston College and Boston College beat North Carolina. Then again, William and Mary beat Harvard so maybe they're the new #1.

Pointy headed fashion alert-a new pink lizard found on Galapogos.
http://news.aol.com/article/new-pink-lizard-found-on-galapagos/297896

That Google result is just because all those people keep using the wrong word, Mudge.

Oy. Joel, please tell the WaPo desk that the front page link to the story about Madoff being ready to ship $173 million out of town is linked to the wrong page.

I find it interesting that Obama has been contacting state and local officals all over ever since he got elected. It seems to be community organization of the entire body politic of America.

Today's speech was to mayors of many cities and other officals.

Bloomberg was quoted as saying that he is for aid being given direct to localities, rather than state as it may get spread thin and not go to where the help is needed the most-- "most of the people out of work can't drive backhoes."

For NYC, that's certainly true.

A pink iguana? Sure as shootin', that'll be the name of the next trendy cocktail on "Sex and the City."

"Pink Iguana Orchid", actually, served with a small orchid in it and costing 15 bucks or so.

Good afternoon, everybody...

Just poppin' in for a quick "hello" while waiting for the woodburning iron to heat up. Busy, busy, busy...

I, for one, won't be watching the game. I know it's almost sacrilege to be a male American who could care less about football, but there you have it. Men in tights pummeling each other and slapping each other on the butt afterwards just doesn't do anything for me.

Now if it were *women* in tights slapping each other on the butt... I'd pay good money for that.

I suppose that iron should be hot enough now, so it's back to work for me...

Peace out :-)

Thanks all. So it was all about Premature Running (or Rusching). I could see that the First Nations of OK would get their nose out of joint about the celebration the Great Land Grab.

The computer and expert ratings at the World Junior Hockey Tournament played here last week gave the Swedes as heavy favourite. Final score of the gold medal game: Canada 5 Sweden 1.

Martooni, you and your ilk are the future of America.

The overwhelming majority of my RL male friends, etc. share my disinterest in football, preferring other sports.

I personally got my fill of football growing up with 4 testesterone-laden football freaks, so I'm thrilled to experience the football-free male psyche.

Obama's economic address today caused a whole slew of problems for folks here at work. He was at George Mason, which is only about a mile from here and every police car on the Eastern Seaboard was blocking traffic in every direction.

Got a great report from Son of G from the road today. They're having a great time still. He stayed in your neck o' the woods, Ivansmom... with the cousins in those parts.

I believe he and his buddy are on their way to Roswell, N.M., right now. Hope they aren't captured by aliens.

Eeek, TBG, I'm sorry I missed him. I would have enjoyed meeting SonofG. However, since the Boy and Ivansdad both seemed to have contracted some sort of cold, SonofG is probably better off having not met us this week.

I tried to tell Ivansdad he had to choose between having a cold and having a broken arm. It didn't work. The question is, which will get better first? Seeing as the arm is only starting Week 3, I'll bet on the cold.

Hmmm. In the very fine song "My Oklahoma Home" (currently to be found on Springsteen's "We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions" CD of two or so years ago), it is referred to as the Land Race, neither Rush nor Run.

I'm going to take Ivansmom's word for it, of course.

I recently read "The Worst Hard Time" by Timothy Egan. It is about the Dust Bowl. This book presents a particularly wrenching account of this period in history, with a special emphasis on Oklahoma.

The book also contains a lot of good insights about what happens when one values short-term economic gains over long term stability. Lessons not without applicability to our own recent history.

But, of course, the most important thing about Oklahoma is that my Momma was born there.

And I must admit that ever since Coach James retired from the Washington Huskies my interest level in college football has been in serious decline. Yet the enthusiasm of Joel for the Gators is infectious.

As Tom Lehrer might have said, I do hope those fine young men fight quite fiercely!

As far as Google, heck, any organization whose motto is "Don't be Evil" has to have something going for it.

My wife just e-mailed this to me. It's really good. (Needs sound, safe for work.) You'll all e-mail it to 47 other people.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMhuAtyFCrw

Security has increased over the years. When I was a student at Penn State, President Nixon came up briefly for the funeral of one of his relatives, a retired faculty member. Despite the President's unpopularity, the visit was utterly quiet.

I wonder about plans for the Inauguration. Could it turn into something like the Pope's visit to St. Louis, where dire warnings of immense crowds scared everyone away? The Pope and his entourage were apparently amazed at the seeming boycott.

(Wilbrod, that YouTube I just linked has captions, and is set to the tune of the William Tell Overture, and is very fast. But you can enjoy it too.)

Thanks, Mudge, that's one of my favorites. I'd seen one of the other versions but they always bring a tear to my eye.

"Land Race", Yoki? This just shows that Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen are not from Oklahoma, and acquaintance with Woody Guthrie doesn't count.

I saw her perform this live at the Montreal Comedy Fest (Juste pour rire/Just for Laughs) quite some years ago. I fell about laughing.

I think they only said Race so that the rhyme would work in the next line, Ivansmom.

I'm just loving "I fell about..." (and I hear it in my head pronounced "I fell aboot...")

But of course :)

'eh'

If Yoki fell about, I sure hope she didn't end up in hospital.

Ivansmom,
Those schools Back East rarely play after The Game and almost never in January, so your apathy over Oklahoma-based institutions of higher learning is justified.

My brother is a Gator, but since he took my unwanted Peach Bowl tickets off my hands I feel obligated to show some sibling solidarity and support Florida no matter how much it pains me.

Far and Away is far and away one of the worse Cruise/Kidman movies, unless you count Days of Thunder.

You hadn't seen that one before, Mudge? I love Anita Renfroe!

Cassandra, I walked this morning and it felt good to get out after two days of rain. I was a mile and a half into my 2.5 mile route when I had to put on the ear muffs. I am a sight when I walk, shoes and heavy jacket and ear muffs and visor.

(*taking a quick break from pyrography*)

Cruise is one of my least favorite people in the world, but I have to say he did very well in Kubrick's "Eyes Wide Shut". "Last Samurai" was pretty darn good, too, but not because of him.

If he'd just lose some of the cockiness and keep his Scientology beliefs to himself (and refrain from jumping up and down on Oprah's couch), I might have a little more respect for him.

(*back to pyrography*)

OK, cats and kittens, here's your tune cootie for the day. The lead singer is Nicholas "Leatherlungs" Reyes. I can listen to this thing 20 times in a row.

We take you now to the Spanish/Portuguese border...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mhkNyaUYtQ

SCC: Spanish-French border...

'Tooni, "Cocky" is basically his major acting chord.

I liked "A Few Good Men" a lot, although it's not really due to Cruise's acting ability, but more to how well Jack Nicholson acted his role which demaned him to have an apparent ego 10 times the size of Cruise's.

SCC: D- for my spelling of "demanded"

Here's an interesting [read: depressing} piece in Slate. It has a wonderful opening sentence:

http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/01/08/damage/print.html

W. and the damage done

[deck hed:] President Bush inherited a peaceful, prosperous America. As he exits, Salon consults experts in seven fields to try to assess the devastation.

By Vincent Rossmeier and Gabriel Winant

Jan. 08, 2009 |

After a couple of presidential terms, mismanagement in every area of policy -- foreign, domestic, even extraterrestrial -- starts to add up. When George W. Bush entered the White House in January 2001, he inherited peace and prosperity. The military, the Constitution and New Orleans were intact and the country had a budget surplus of $128 billion. Now he's about to dash out the door, leaving a large, unpaid bill for his successors to pay.

To get a sense of what kind of balance is due, Salon spoke to experts in seven different fields. Wherever possible, we have tried to express the damage done in concrete terms -- sometimes in lives lost, but most often just in money spent and dollars owed. What follows is an incomplete inventory of eight years of mis- and malfeasance, but then a fuller accounting would run, um, somewhat longer than three pages.

-------------

love the word "extraterrestrial" in there. LOL.

Sweet jeebus, the sun is out! And not a cloud in sight anywhere!

This is indeed passing strange. It's felt like it's been overcast and raw and miserable here since 1978.

http://www.ottawasooners.ca/index.html

Hi all.

Sorry for the lack of Boodling today.

Been busy working. Not quite to the state of developing a diamond mine in my colon, but a few others around here have.

I think that these folks believe that what they get out of their digestive systems are all they'll have to retire on.

bc

Happy New Year Mr. Joel: if you could only combine your always informative astronomy kits with your always amusing sports kits you might be onto the next big thing...e.g., who do you like when the boys from andromeda come join the SEC next millenium?

bc... no diamonds in my colon either (thank goodness, because that could be painful).

My retirement plan is to skin the alligators hanging from that same general area and have purses and shoes and suitcases made from it. I could maybe even sell the meat to Outback. How much does a pound of cubed alligator tail go for these days?

If that doesn't work, my Plan B is to go into agriculture. Peoples wants their glaucoma meds, don't y'know. I have a decent sized back yard that's fenced in and invisible from the street. If I keep them short and fat and happy and mix in some tomater plants... sure beats the stock market and it's all cash. Cash rocks.

Are there any diamonds in a certain town in Connecticut?

Nah... I don't think they have diamonds in Hartford.

;-)

Diamond tune cootie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OafqYNCzq5U

She got diamonds on the soles of her shoes.

boko, what were they early for? Opening time at the Prescott?

bc, avert your eyes. Ronaldo may be the best football player in the world so he can afford any supercar he desired. Whether he is qualified to drive one is another story.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/manchester_united/article5474171.ece

I assume, Martooni, that you have something in mind such as this story describes:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/07/AR2009010701082.html

Right?

;-)

From the Stupidity in Marketing Department...

Just got an email from Home Depot with four different offers you can choose from:

$5 off a $50 purchase
$10 off a $100 purchase
$15 off a $150 purchase
$20 off a $200 purchase

Why the Ford couldn't they just say "10% off all purchases of $50 or more", drive that message home in a very big way and be done with it?

I'm sure there are some idiots out there trying to figure out which of these four options is the better deal, but really... my intelligence is insulted often enough as it is.

No wonder these chains are losing their butts and having to close stores. They can't even promote a sale without effing it up.

martooni's mixed garden: official source of Señor Stripey

Sounds like bc at 6...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/06/AR2009010601195.html

Although it's sad that the boy probably was going to go hungry if he missed breakfast.

Of course, slyness... nothing but legal veggies. Yup.

Lots of cash to be made growing zucchini.

There was a racist trope circulating around the internet during the election season that if elected Obama would convert the Rose Garden to a Watermelon Patch.

That is all.

One more ray of hope today involves me getting a job installing solar hot water heaters.

The other day I sort-of-joked to my neighbor, whose company wants to divest of the Miami Herald, that Google might want to buy it. But this seems the wrong model. And the Google guy who said people have a craving for news got it right. But what I think is that we need to see who is getting our bucks. It's the internet providers. I happily pay for high-speed internet, monthly. Not only that, but I pay to get TV networks from the same company. The ads don't pay all the revenue. I pitch in. Willingly.

This leads me to think that the logical choice to buy the NYTimes is not Google, but Time Warner. Or any major broadband provider.
I want to scream about that as much as anyone. It just seems wrong. However, it also seems right. If this sticks in the craw, then the alternative is for the NYTimes to start laying fiber cable to people's homes, and fast. Get in that business themselves.

Hey everyone. I've been pounding on my keyboard all day and now I'm rubbing my eyes (yeah, yeah, I know I shouldn't do that -- go away!). I've only backboodled a little bit, so I'm not completely up to date with you all.

But one thing did jump out at me. Slyness, you posted about wearing earmuffs. You know what my mom used to call them? *earmuffins* Isn't that cute? Awwwww. Dang -- I sure do miss her. She was awfully funny.

Tom Cruise doesn't do a thing for me -- at all. I don't find him at all interesting. Or even talented.

Okay, gotta get back to work before I put the brown rice on. Or not.

Toodley, doodley, Boodley. . . .

Snow Day! Actually, Snow Late Afternoon!

Blizzard down here in Southern Alberta. This was, I thought, the perfect excuse for an early-out so that these long, long looooong five consecutive days of work are a little broken up by the excitement of skidding, zero visibility, enormous SUVs charging up behind my tiny, grey Honda which grows invisible at dusk... all kinds of thrills.

This is why football ends in late November in Canada. See, I can be on-kit about sports.

Yoki... I had my fun driving in the weather this morning. It was just light snow, but the heater in our minivan died a while back, so no windshield defogging/defrosting. Of course, I managed to end up behind a semi kicking up tons of water and mud and slush that immediately froze on the windshield. Nothing like trying to keep up with traffic at 55mph and not being able to see the road or who might be trying to cut into your lane or coming to an abrupt stop in front of you.

I want snow! (At least a little.)

I've heard that if you wear your jammies inside out that might help.

Well, that's what I heard.

frosti... I meant to say earlier that "yes, insulation is good".

I found a few more openings to plug today (daylight shining through was a big help) and after doing so, got the shop temp almost 20F higher than the outside temp. That brought it up to a balmy 40F, which is just fine by me. I'm waiting to see what happens next week, though, when we're expecting highs around 10F. As long as I can keep it above freezing I'll be happy.

(and quit tsk-tsk-ing Yoki and other north-o-the-border boodlers who consider 10F Bermuda shorts weather... I signed up for Ohio, not the Arctic Circle)

Try putting your boots and shovel away for the year. That will bring you snow.

martooni, speaking of Home Depot, I heard on the news tonight that Home Depot has just discontinued its justly famous support program of hiring Olympic athletes to help support their training, after 16 years. They claim it is NOT related to profits--they say it's just "time to move on." B@st@rds.

yello, speaking for myself (but I got a hunch for a good many others), if there's some racist joke out there in the cybersphere, I'd just as soon you not bring it to the Boodle. We're all aware there's a lot of crap out there, especially some really vicious anti-Obama stuff. Thank you.

Sky alert for all you locals. Nearly full moon and fast-moving wispy clouds. Purty.

engelmann (dr too!) I'm likely to be in your fair city in the next couple/three weeks. If I drop lines when this is confirmed, any chance of a Northern BPH some time, possibly the week of the 26th? I know, I'm mad, mad I tell you, to contemplate a voluntarily visit in January, but that's just me; mad bad and dangerous to know.

Was just scanning tonight's TV schedule. I'm guessing Joel's gonna miss "Ugly Betty" and "Grey's Anatomy." Wonder if he's gonna Tivo them?

And Minnesota's playing Iowa, in case he gets bored with that other game. (Riiiiight.)

Do you know, I don't think I've had one post today that didn't have at least one, and often multiple, typos. I'm sorry.

Yoki, grieve not, but get thee hence to timely slumber before clocks have struck midnight.

This XKCD comic made me giggle.

http://www.xkcd.com/520/

You have not one leg to stand on Wilbrod, as far as burning the candle goes. But you are quite right. 'Tis a sign of fatigue, and I shall, I solemnly swear, take me to my couch much earlier tonight than I have been doing.

Why hast thou given me the hot-foot on both feet, Yoki?

Mudge... just goes to show you just how stoopid the "professional" marketing and PR types can be.

It's not like they were paying those athletes big money -- probably minimum wage or a little over -- and in addition to having those people stock shelves or mix paint (or whatever) like the rest of their employees, they were sitting on a PR gold (medal) mine but were too lazy or dumb to break out the shovels.

I only shop HD because they have better lumber than the local Lowes. The homegrown yards are either out of business or selling low grade lumber I wouldn't use for a camp fire. We've had two regional (and sizable) lumber yards go under in the past eight months.

It just irritates the guano out of me when I see them doing patently stupid things and yet have the nerve to kvetch about business being down. The lumber I use for my little doors is now costing almost 40% more than it did six months ago and I now have to pick through dozens of boards to find just one that's not cracked or warped or has gouges in it from a forklift or footprints -- yes, footprints -- from some monkey in receiving stomping all over it.

Grrrrr...

If these companies want to survive and prosper, they need to remember that they're *hardware* stores and *not* Wallymart. Focus, focus, focus... profit.

Because, dear friend, you are still awake when I *finally* leave, and it is at least an hour later where you are, than I. And that is what EYE call burning the candle at both ends. Worse than me (and that's saying something. Quite what, we don't know).

'toon, the kicker on the discount deal is if you spend $99.00, you don't get $9.90 off, you only get the $5 discount. You don't get the second 5 smackaroos until you cross the $100 mark. Tricky little gimmick, no?

Mudge, you don't look like Marty Feldman. Oh....I get it. You said hunch. My mistake.

But I don't have to get up before the crack of dawn to wrangle sharks, Yoki.

And I have been known to retire to bed quite early when fatigue hits, much to Wilbrodog's consternation.

Thanks for the comic W_G.
This made me giggle:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/inauguration-watch/2009/01/survive_hurricane_obama_lie_un.html?hpid=topnews

Why does dawn "crack", anyway?

The sun's upward egress is not remotely snappy, fragile, nor even egg-shaped.

Egress?

Sun’s upward egress
Clouds and lakes blush rose in dark
En masse, egrets rise.

-Wilbrodog-

You clearly have not spent enough time on the wide prairie. Here, when drawn 'breaks' it actually cracks. Nothing, nothing, just darkness and then, suddenly, Light! A liminal, sudden transition from one state to the next. Amazing.

6 km/week = 3.73 miles.

Not bad for 91.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090108111423.htm

A few observations about the game

Seems like the flyover came at the beginning of the national anthem.

I didn't know Fox did college football? can't ever recall seeing a game on fox.

When showing the crowd,why isn't everyone standing and removing their hats during the national anthem.

Nice to have Calvert College win the battle of the marching bands.Where is Calvert College in Baltimore?

Ok onto the game

My bad, Yoki.

I'm not terribly fond of flat places-- I like a little bounce in the landscape.

As good mornings go
I like mine sunny side up
The rest is gravy

Liminal is my favorite word, ever.

Threshold, but with energy or anticipation or the crackle of change within it.

Yoki, let me say that the liminal light of dawn sounds like a long thin, rising whistle to me (think minor key).

Not a BOOM crack, like a rifleshot (which always makes me jump).

One of mine, too, CquaP. And so apt, don't you think?

Oh my, now we can talk of personal-ology. I believe that each moment is a liminal one: poised at a threshold, moving through, the number of which in a lifetime staggers.

All the talk about big space -- galaxy arms, moist carbonic planets, -- and tiny space -- pi mesons, gluons, Godly particles, chasmic prairies between neighbor electrons..YES but they pale in comparison to

inner space

The project of being human. I shall stop, by saying that another great word that sounds similar is

limnal -- pertaining to lakes.

Oh. ooh, ahhh: one last word from painting: limmed. the halo of light around the holy or beloved.....

Goazooks: Look at the time. Can pick up CPBoy from a VERY LONG EVENT and then fling myself into a bed.

I shall try very hard to post sportie things: I went to high school with Don Mosebar who played pro football; Dan Pastorini lived in my dorm room, but not at the same time as me. I am on kit, and off into the wilds of Silver Spring.

Limned= to paint, to illuminate, to describe, yes.

Limnology= the study of lakes. (gk. limne).
As far as I know, limnal is not a word for "lakeish--" I'd use lacustrine-- but limnic is a word for freshwater, marshy, etc.

Ya know, I get a lot of sleep and my posts are still rife with typos.

Well, I imagine I should go check on that football contest and see if Joel is on track for whoops of joy or bitter, bitter tears.

Newsflash: golf can make you deaf. Insert jokes here.

http://www.livescience.com/health/090107-golf-clubs-loud.html

CqP, if that inner space becomes limnal, inner peace is achieved, right? And with two humans reaching limnetic states, a liminal moment becomes luminal.

Right?

I thought limnology was the study, even more specifically, of freshwater shores?

A limnic...

There once was a pond in Nantucket
so nasty if sipped you would chuck it.
It bubbled and churned
and flobbled and turned
and the fish therein said, Oh !@#$-it!

Ooh Martooni, Your Excellency sir!

Martooni, NOW that's a real crack.

Well done.

Joel's Gators up 7-zip on a 20 yard pass from Tebow to Murphy.

As much as I hate to admit it, I think Florida's gonna win *another* flippin' national championship.

Sheesh - when's it going to be someone else's turn? Like Salisbury State or MIT or something?

Oh, gotta go quickly - watch me get superluminal here...
Meep Meep!
*poof*

[Runs directly into a painted-on tunnel, knocks himself out cold until halftime.]

bc

mudge,
If you can't the see the irony of an over earnest group of pro-vegetable activists playing into the preconceptions of rabidly anti-Obama zealots, it's not worth explaining. It amused me and was ostensibly on-boodle. But then I'm a sick hate-mongering racist that way. I thought you knew that about me by now.

Okay. I'm, like, tired. So I'm going to just, you know, envision a Gator win and assume this will help in a telepathic sort of way.

I didn't see "watermelon" mentioned in the article, yello, but I do understand where you were comin' from... and also Mudge's request that it not become a habit.

Jeez, if you gotta argue, go play in traffic will ya?

These are the 2 best teams in college football? They look nervous or something.How can Oklahoma not get any points out of those last 2 drives?

Holy Schmoly Wilbrod. Considering the way you and I carried on *less than a week ago*, can ya not go throwing stones?

Mudge, I knew what you were saying, and you are *definitely Right* to speak up when you think something like this has happened. I do that too. But I know how you missed it. He's explained now that he was calling attention to yet another irony of this election season.

YJ, sometimes honey you need an editor. But then again, so do I (see comment to Wilbrod above). (I knew what you were saying at the get-go, but I also thought that someone would mis-read it. The last two sentences of your post to Mudge were over the top. An editor would have deleted them.)

No one gets the hair shirt. It's in the cleaners. I can't believe I had to wear the thing when it was so flippin' filthy. Who wore that rag before me? Anyone know what color it's supposed to be?

I'm thinking cold-pressed olive-oil green.

Ah HA! Hmmph! Tsk.

Sorry. Good night, Boodle.

Sooners just tied it up 14-14 on a run by Gresham with 12 minutes left. I was gonna go to bed, but now I think I'm stuck here.

Yes, LiT. Those last two lines were over the top and uncalled for. I apologize. I would ask you to mete out my punishment, but you might think that was a little forward of me.

***Trying to shake a Kirsty MacColl tune cootie***

Rumors that the Seattle P-I (my local paper, and where a friend's husband works) may be sold:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/395362_newspaper09.html

Wilbrod, thanks for the news about the disturbance in Oakland. I would not have heard about it otherwise.

Tebow!

The Oakland riots were on NBC news, including really devastating video of the shooting ---

LiT - very nicely done!

Watched the end of the game with the hubby. I'm weird about these games. I develop situational allegiances. Other than the St. Louis Cardinals, for whom I have an undying love, and Terp b-ball (for the hubby and son's sake) and USC (because of my SoCal upbringing), I just do not care.

Tonight, in spite of the fact that I have an allegiance to the A-blog which should mean that I root for the Gators, I found myself rooting for the Sooners. I had to go into a deconstruct mode to figure that out. I think that I was rooting for the Sooners because a certain Gator named Percy used to play football in Virginia Beach. The hubby and son would routinely come home from VB football games and talk disparagingly about the drama king antics of a Percy person on one of the local teams. The stories of histrionics and narcissism they would tell! However, it seems that when that Percy person went to Florida they forgave him all his shortcomings in a sort of root-for-the-local-guy algorithm. That algorithm escaped me as I watched the game and realized that the Percy person plays for Florida. I couldn't bring myself to root for the Florida team because of all those years of not-caring-but-listening-to-the-disparagement. It doesn't make any sense, but I'm glad I figured it out.

Yes. Yellojkt, it's become apparent to me that ANYTHING is grist for the mill when it comes to dedicated bigots or haters.

Bigoted or racist humor does not need repeating for "educational purposes".

I grew up hearing that watermelon comment and never knew WHY it was a stereotype until I was in my 20's and learned more about historical racism.

I still think I'd have been better off not seeing that joke in the first place, since it only makes sense to those of a specific generation.

It is NOT a meme worthy of transmission to future generations.

We don't know all the kind of first-hand bigotry Mudge's heard in his reporting career back in the day-- and we are glad that times have changed that we don't have to.

I'd just respect Mudge's wishes on this matter.

i love the mom song. here's the version with anita renfroe.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxT5NwQUtVM

and the dad version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtNGFh-dCe0

Go Florida Gators! Yay!

'Morning, Boodle. Yeah, dragged my weary butt to Dawn Patrol. If ever there was a morning where I needed a good hot breakfast suych as creamed chipped beef, this is it.

I suppose congrats are in order to Joel, DaveOTC, and Bertooch for the big Florida win, and condolences to the Ivansmomses and any other Sooneristic Boodlers. I watched the last 10 or 15 minutes of the game, and have only this to say: if the *&^%$#@%$ announcer made one more reference to what a saint Tebow is, how his faith sustains him, how many mission trips he takes with his mother, I was gonna strangle somebody. A little background commentary is fine, but fauning and obsequious pandering aren't. Jeez, ya get less religious commentary watching a Notre Dame game.

OK, it appears to be Friday. I don't know whose idea that was, but it's a good one. Let's go, peeps.

Oh good golly.

Now he is going to be totally insufferable.

Insufferable I tell you.

Morning Mudge!

Already went through yesterday's remaining coffee and started a new pot. I fear that today will be difficult. I think that I may have to say, Oh well, on some business situations that have dragged on for years.

It's hard to explain what is happening to me right now, but I think that I hate to "give up" on something, even if it has long been worth my while.

The timing, itself, is funny, but not.

Alas, Mudge, it could be a good morning, but, we will see.

Good luck, russianthistle! I hope things work out well.

Happy Friday to the rest of you. I hope Florida fans won't be too insufferable.

Hey, I got the last Earl Grey teabag in the ready room. I'll see what's available at Costco when I go this morning. Any other requests?

Cassandra, I hope you're sleeping in this morning. It's gonna be a cool walk. No reason to push being out in the cold.

God loves us so much more than we can imagine through Him that died for all, Jesus Christ.

Good morning, friends. A good rule of thumb concerning the "racist" pictures, jokes, etc., is this: were these types of things done in regard to other Presidents? Did someone suggest that Bush turn the South lawn into a garden of watermelons?

Racist comments and actions never have a leg to stand on, never justifiable. Why? Because they come from a deep rooted hate and lies. And sometimes that hate is rooted so deeply, one may not even be aware of it, yet it will make its presence known in the most subtle ways. We all bring something to the table, and so much of the time, it smells.

Mudge, Slyness, Martooni(love the poem)Scotty, Yoki, and all, good morning.*waving*

Well, I can imagine there is joy and gladness in the home of the Achenbach clan. Have a great day, JA.

I have the g-girl this morning. We're trying to get breakfast and head out the door. I'm so tired from this, I don't know about the walk. And it is cold, very cold.

Have a fantastic day, folks. Friday is my day off, we'll see how that plays out. Hope it's not too cold where you are.

Time to walk.

slyness,
thanks. you know, I expect that I might have to do a bit of work to suggest alternatives as I had in the past. This time, I guess they (all of the theys) will angrily agree to do something pro-active.

I am personally tired of absorbing clients' anger that most of the time, has nothing to do with me.

Time to run away from legacy infrastructure. Time to just work on things that are fun; produce a bit of income (even a bit); and where people are grateful for my efforts.

Thanks again slyness.

'morning boodle. I think you are all writing about the football teams wearing the brightly colored uniforms that were on TV last night. I didn't watch but congrats to the victorious saurians anyway.

Obama doesn't strike me as the gardener type. He's the cool urban dude. I don't see him in overalls, traw hat and clogs, somehow.

These 5-day weeks are cruel and unusual punishment. I just realized our next holiday if Good Friday, April 10th.

Morning all...

*wave*

Good morning, Boodle, Cassandra, all.

Shriek, you should start lobbying for a February holiday (or move to Alberta which has one); it brightens mid-winter to know that a long weekend is on the horizon.

This is a fine Friday indeed, and one that brings a sense of anticipation.

Have a happy day, everyone.

Clear!
Packatakataka, growl, sneeze, cough. The asmathic engine started ok. Roaring into the frigid morning air.

Good morning, Boodle.

'faxin S'Nuke a plate of calories in toast (wheat), eggs (sunny side up) and a cookie (chocolate chip). Also a gallon of Columbian coffee.

Morning all,

Shriek you do not get Family Day (Ont). I remember something about some workers not getting the day but can't remember who.

Good luck with the day Russianthistle.

BIL update, he had surgery and a shunt was place to drain the fluid from his brain to his stomach. As of late yesterday afternoon the confusion was still apparent - hoping is subsides as the fluid drains and effects of the anesthesia(sp) wears off.

Have a great day all, I have a dental appointment then a strategy meeting - just try to top that :-). Good thing it is Friday.

Yoki, Ontario has Family Day on Feb 16th but the feds don't get it. I suspect my "volunteer" day will fall on that date this year though.

And yes it's cold. Typical cold snap following the snow storm. The b@stards at the public transit agency have voted to continue their strike, so I will have to keep on kicking the dogs awake at 05:30 and venture into the freezing night for the morning pee for at least for another week. Grrrrrrr.

*faxin' a w00t to DNA_G* :-)

New kit coming in a lil bit...not entirely sports related, I promise!

Cassandra, the Achenbach clan, sadly, does not root for the Gators with the intensity demanded by Papa Achenbach. The girls care about Project Runway, etc. Where did I go wrong??

As for last night: Hooray....and Ka-CHING.

dmd - best wishes for your BIL!

SD - Could you, or some other dog owner, explain to me why the amount of time it takes a canine to find a place to "go" in the morning is inversely proportional to the temperature?

Let it be a warm balmy morning and things happen quickly. But let it be a frigid morning with a biting wind and the little dear must first sniff the entire stinkin' back yard.

Mornin' all...

Since I can't seem to get moving in time for the Dawn Patrol, I guess I'll have to be the Brunch Bomber. I'll be dropping a bunch of croissant and quiche-filled baskets with little parachutes over the bunker around oh-ten-hundred.

Congrats to the Florida folks, for what it's worth.

Time for more coffee...

Peace out :-)

Slyness

I forgot I can't walk this morning. I put my coat in the cleaners, and I won't be able to get it until closing time today. The g-girl is out the door, so I'm sipping coffee. I stepped outside when she left, and boy, is that air cold.

russianthistle

It sounds like you're walking a tightrope. Good luck with that. Yesterday at the after school program at the church, I ran into a situation and totally lost it. Not with a child, but with an adult. Last night, I went to this person's home, and apologized. I don't rest well when I think I've hurt people's feeling. She and I laughed about it later. I told her my blood sugar wasn't quite where it needed to be because I hadn't eaten since breakfast, and that was true. It was after five when all this took place. Sometimes I just don't take the time to eat, and since I've started walking, don't have much of an appetite, not for real food anyway. If I could just lose the sweet tooth.

Virtual drinks on Joel!

RT -- take care with the long swim or treading of water you seem to be doing.

With Jimmy Carter, it was peanuts.

JA

I'm with the Achenbach ladies, although I try to avoid Project runway, and that ilk. I also avoid football, and the rest. Take heart, it's not your fault.

Jimmy Carter was and may still be, a peanut farmer. The President-elect doesn't have a farm anywhere, unless he's hiding one in the greater Chicago area. And if he does, why would watermelon be the crop?

RD, I have no explanation why dogs delay their morning "activities" when the weather is cold. I often personalize it as payback for the lack of a second snausage the night before. Or that inadvertent kick in my sleep. I will offer a corollary: the increase in time becomes exponential when it's cold *and* raining.

Sirius Star Released.

The Saudi tanker with two million barrels of crude was spotted by Dawn Patrol heading siuth east.

The PPC (Pirates Profit Center) announced a three million US dollar ransom been paid.

Brag asks: How come the Pirates let go the Saudi Ship for so little?

I wish I could grow watermelons. We tried this past season and ended up with three softball-sized "melons" that were nothing but rind and seeds. The pumpkins did okay though.

Cassandra... it's just sore losers who have no real ammo to attack him with. Obama hasn't given them anything of substance they can use against him (yet), but attack they must so they resort to this kind of crap.

What they don't realize is that this kind of behavior is *exactly* why voters turned to Obama and away from the Republican party.

Everyone agrees that the watermelon crack was racist. YJ was calling attention to the fact that a well-meaning group has unwittingly trod very closely to the filth, if not falling directly into it. Pres Carter took some shots as well, not because of the color of his skin, but because he was portrayed as a seed-spitting hillbilly. (He didn't help himself by wearing jeans to a formal function with heads of state...was it in France?) Anyway, the upshot is...presidents are easy targets for buttheads who think there's something innately wrong with anyone not like them.

Nice to see the film "Slumdog Millionaire" doing so very well at the Critics Choice Awards (see washingtonpost.com's homepage).

We saw "Slumdog" about a week ago after our local film critic picked it as his favorite film for 2008. It was on our list to see anyhow, but the local thumbs-way-up ranking gave us added impetus. I would place this film, set in large part in Mumbai, at the top of my own list, along with "The Reader." I'm glad Kate Winslet got the critics nod for best supporting actress in "Reader."

The images (three actors for each main character as they pass from childhood into their teens and become young adults) and storyline (thanks to exceptional film editing) of "Slumdog" stayed with us long after we left the theater. Survival and greed are important themes.

Perhaps the story was driven home for us since the chat with our waiter at our "Christmas" dinner at San Antonio's India Oven restaurant, which serves north Indian dishes. The young man was from Mumbai, having arrived in Texas and the United States in spring 2008. We spoke after our meal about the recent tragedy at the Taj Mahal Hotel in his home city.

Much to my surprise and tragically, the answer to one of the quiz show ("Who Wants to be a Mill-a-naire"--given the accent) questions in the movie is a Loomis descendant. And no, the Loomis descendant is not A, for Aramis.

I wonder how this superb movie will fare with the Academy? Quite well, I hope.

laloomis, I'm glad you got your Christmas dinner. I used to celebrate my birth-month, so that I'd have some sort of birthday celebration sometime around the right date.

"Morning Joe" was kinda funny this morning. They had Peggy Noonan on (who I really don't care for) and Suze Orman (who I also really don't care for), but the two of them unsheathed their claws in subtle and not-so-subtle ways when the subject of Sarah Palin's recent media faux pas came up.

Noonan's advice to Palin: Get a sense of humor and quit blaming "the media". Channel Ronald Reagan.

Orman's advice: Grow up and shut up unless you have something to say that's not whining or complaining.

Nothing we all didn't already know, but I got a kick out of it, anyway.

Back to sanding...

New Kit!

The story about how the bridge closures for the inauguration gave Virginians' knickers in a twist is interesting. On the one hand, when you read the story (and it is even better if you actually know the geography involved), it actually makes perfect sense to close the bridges. But it also appears the decisionmakers -- security and transportation people, I guess -- haven't done a very good job explaining their reasoning. Second, I doubt Obama and his immediate team have had much (or anything) to say about any of this, but they seem to be getting the flack, which is misdirected. Third, a fair number of the Virginians who appear umbraged have offered up totally ridiculous and absurd notions, such as suggesting that this is "Northern" payback for the Civil War. Jaysus, people, get a grip, will ya?

The story does sort of raise the question about why the trans people don't also close the Douglas bridge, 11th street bridge, and Penna ave. bridges, all coming from Maryland and crossing the Anacostia instead of the Potomac. One answer is that they are all a bit further away from Ground Zero than the Potomac bridges-- but not by a lot.

The true situation is that the moment you cross ANY of the bridges in question, you're going to be hit with immediate gridlock and have no place to go. So the bridges will themselves back up, and all traffic on them -- and then leading to them -- will also grind to a halt. And the situation is that once you are on the approaches to the bridges, you are pretty much locked into place; it isn't like you can just turn right or left and turn around and go someplace else.

The bridge story doesn't mention it, but it was announced on the news yesterday that the Coast Guard has closed Potomac River itself to all traffic from two miles below the Wilson Bridge (down near Ft. Washington and Mt. Vernon, for you out-of-towners) to above the Key Bridge in Rosslyn (leading into upper Georgetown). This effectively blocks all water access to the downtown area. I suspect this has less to do with security (bad guys smuggling bombs/weapons into town) than with simply preventing nautical chaos on the river. If you've ever seen the Potomac on the night of July 4th, you'll know why closing the river is a good idea.

NEW KIT!!!